Supermarket Sainsbury’s has become the first grocer to extend its Aldi price-match campaign to its 800 local convenience store outlets.
In a bold move by its boss to win back market share from the German discounter, Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain today (4) has added price matches on 200 daily staples — including milk, chicken, bread and vegetable oil — in its local convenience stores.
Simon Roberts, chief executive, told The Times that he had decided to roll out the campaign because customers had told him that they “really love the convenience of Sainsbury’s Local, but would really like to see value on the products we buy most often.
“What we’re seeing from customers is that they want to be sure they’re getting the best value.
“UK grocery is one of the most, if not the most competitive markets in the world,” Roberts said. “What we’ve seen is lots of new, smaller supermarkets grow in the UK, and so we have to be competitive on everyday products that customers buy, in order for them to be confident in our value.”
He added that matching with Aldi prices “gives customers real confidence”, particularly when shoppers’ budgets are squeezed.
The Aldi price-match scheme will replace Sainsbury’s “pocket friendly prices” campaign, which launched last year to help customers find cheaper items in its Local shops more easily.
Sainsbury’s is targeting between 20 and 25 new Local stores each year, as part of its ongoing expansion plan, which includes opening more larger-format supermarkets. It will open a new convenience shop at Edinburgh Airport in December, in a unit previously occupied by Marks & Spencer. It will be Sainsbury’s first airport store.
“Whether on the way to work, or travelling from a station, local stores play such an important role in people’s lives," Roberts said.
Waitrose is to open 100 new convenience shops over the next five years as part of a £1 billion investment, while Marks & Spencer unveiled plans to open ten new convenience stores this year and renew up to 50. Morrisons plans to open 400 more of its Morrisons Daily convenience stores, with a wider goal of hitting 2,000 smaller stores in 2025.
The Co-op said it will install 300 new front-of-store digital media screens to turbo-charge its retail media offering, taking the total number of screens to over 9,000 across its store estate.
In partnership with SMG – the UK’s leading independent retail media operator – the move will expand the Co-op Media Network’s (CMN) digital capabilities and enable FMCG brands to deepen their engagement across Co-op’s convenience stores.
The rollout will see digital screens introduced to 300 of Co-op’s highest footfall, urban locations, including Greater London (12%), Greater Manchester (5%) and North Yorkshire (2.5%), with 24 stores planned to go live each week until January 2025.
These new front-of-store media touch points will take the total number of digital screens across Co-op’s 2,400 stores to over 9,300 – including its current kiosk and customer facing screens at manned tills – providing multiple opportunities for brands to work with CMN on their in-store campaigns, focusing on key missions such as food-to-go, food-for-later and treat occasions.
“We’re the experts in convenience, and given our unparalleled shopper footfall, we want brands that invest with us to realise that retail media spend in Co-op stores can yield significant results that can importantly be measured, with a consistent return on investment across the board,” Matt Hood, managing director of Co-op Food, said.
The screens will be placed either at the entrance to the store, in the store foyer, or an outward-facing window close to the entrance. Situated in busy urban areas and embedded into local communities, these screens will be visible not only to store visitors but also to the significant number of passers-by, offering added value and exposure for advertisers.
Lee LeFeuvre, chief commercial officer, at SMG said: “With more than 90 per cent of grocery purchases still happening in-store, we are seeing a huge wave of digitisation across retailer store estates. We're proud to see Co-op are at the forefront of this movement in the convenience sector. For brands, Co-op’s investment in digital screens is significant. It offers the opportunity to connect with Co-op customers throughout the shopper journey, as well as at the point of purchase through dynamic, personalised and creative content that is proven to drive action.”
UK supermarkets are worst in Europe when it comes to unnecessary plastic packaging, a new report has found, stating that they add up to 29.8 billion pieces of avoidable plastic waste every year.
According to an analysis by Retail Economics and the packaging company DS Smith, UK ranks as top offender in terms of excess plastic packaging among six European countries with worst offenders in British shopping baskets being processed foods such as ready meals, breads and other carbohydrates, and dairy products.
More than 80 per cent of products in these categories came wrapped in plastic.
Josh Holmes, a senior consultant at Retail Economics who worked on the report, said that mushrooms, broccoli and oranges were examples of items wrapped in plastic that did not need to be.
Britons’ love for fast food was also an issue, he said, “UK consumers spend a lot on ready meals and processed foods, more than other European markets.”
In the UK, 70 per cent of the products in the study were wrapped in plastic. Of this packaging, 51 per cent was deemed replaceable by more sustainable packaging or removable entirely.
France had the lowest plastic usage of the countries studied, using it in less than 60 per cent of products in an average grocery basket. This difference largely attributable to a crackdown on unnecessary fruit and vegetable packaging. A phased ban on plastic-wrapping fresh fruits and vegetables was introduced in 2022 for 30 products, including cucumbers, lemons and oranges.
As a result, only 44 per cent of supermarket fruits and vegetables in France had plastic packaging, compared with 78 per cent in the UK.
Holmes said, “When you go to countries like France or Spain, there’s a lot more fresh deli counters where food essentially is unpackaged, whereas a lot of the supermarkets in the UK have been cutting back on fresh counters for cost cutting and efficiency reasons.”
Labour’s manifesto for the election promised that the new government would be “committed to reducing waste by moving to a circular economy”.
Urging the UK government to create regulation to help businesses replace plastic more quickly, Miles Roberts, chief executive at DS Smith, said, “We think government can and should be more demanding of us all — phasing out certain plastics to help create a level playing field that encourages innovation, investment, and generates healthy competition to replace plastic."
Meanwhile, Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said that retailers were generally on board with reducing plastic packaging.
“The report shows that many already have plans to increase their investment into packaging alternatives within the next 12 months,” Opie said. “A new levy on packaging next year will further stimulate packaging reduction and provide local authorities with £1 billion of new money to invest in recycling.”
Supermarket Sainsbury’s has kicked off a range improvement programme across its convenience store estate as part of its plan to revamp the smaller stores.
According to recent reports, the supermarket will carry out a full range review, where it will assess which items are performing well in its convenience arm Sainsbury’s Local stores. This will include whether particular lines need to be removed or added, including its selection of “dine in” or “food-to-go” products. Sainsbury’s kicked off the initiative last weekend and is set to run over the next few months.
The supermarket will also be looking at how it can better use the space in its convenience. Sainsbury’s has previously announced plans to open between 20 and 25 convenience stores annually to increase its presence on the high street.
As of June 2024, Sainsbury's has 834 convenience stores in the UK. Sainsbury's stores are different from other supermarkets in terms of their size, product range, and target market. Sainsbury's Local stores are carefully selected to serve the needs of each community. Some stores are specifically designed for busy customers looking for food on the go.
In its financial report published earlier this year, Sainsbury's said: "In total, for 2024-25, we expect to open three supermarkets and around 25 new convenience stores, with four supermarkets and three to five convenience stores to close. In addition, we expect to open around ten Argos stores inside Sainsbury’s and close around 15-20 Argos stand-alone stores."
It comes as Sainsbury's and Argos confirmed plans to hire 18,000 people at Sainsbury’s and 2,000 workers at Argos to help cover the busy Christmas period. The supermarket chain will hire staff on fixed-term contracts ranging from three weeks to three months.
Waitrose has on Thursday announced a multi-year partnership with leading delivery network Just Eat to expand its presence in the on-demand grocery and convenience sectors.
In the coming weeks, Just Eat customers will be able to order their food and drink to be delivered in 30 minutes or less from 229 Waitrose locations across the UK. Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester are among the locations the partnership went live this week.
The collaboration comes as Waitrose has seen average weekly on-demand grocery sales increase by 140 per cent in the first six months of the year, helping the retailer to reach a broader range of customers.
Just Eat customers will be able to order from thousands of items, including the revamped premium range Waitrose No. 1 and the value tier Essential Waitrose.
Waitrose recently confirmed plans to open up to 100 convenience shops across the UK in the next five years to add to more than 90 Shell forecourt shops it supplies and a franchise agreement for shops in 27 Welcome Break motorway service areas.
“Partnering with Just Eat and stepping up our plans for new shops allows us to reach even more customers who want the same commitment to quality, taste and ethical standards whenever and wherever they want to enjoy great food,” James Bailey, Waitrose executive director, said.
“As demand for greater convenience has grown, so have expectations of convenience food - and that is a huge opportunity for us.”
Claire Pointon, managing director for the UK and Ireland at Just Eat, added: “Many of today’s consumers no longer consider speed a luxury but a necessity. This is supported by Just Eats’ own research - three in four people who have ordered on-demand groceries believe it will become a part of their daily lives. Just Eat is proud to be leading this change and so we’re thrilled to be adding Waitrose to our list of grocery partners, strengthening the choice and value available for customers on the platform - whenever, and wherever, they need us.”
More than one million Brits now regularly get their groceries delivered by Just Eat - with the platform delivering 12 grocery orders to UK customers’ doors every minute last year alone.
Britons bruised by a cost of living crisis will not start spending strongly again until the new Labour government sets out its tax and spending plans, and interest rates fall further, the boss of supermarket Sainsbury's has said.
According to chief executive Simon Roberts, despite falling inflation, higher wages, and solid employment levels, UK shoppers remain nervous about spending on bigger ticket items.
"Discretionary markets continue to be difficult," said Roberts, a more than 35-year veteran of the UK retail sector who has run Britain's second-biggest supermarket chain since 2020.
"Consumers inevitably are wanting to be clearer about what's going to happen next and for that reason we see a continued caution in discretionary spending," he said.
Recent surveys have shown UK consumer confidence has plunged in the wake of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's warnings about the state of the British economy and the likely need for tax increases in an Oct 30 budget, prompting fears about trading in the run-up to Christmas.
Sainsbury's has a more than 15 per cent share of Britain's grocery market, trailing only Tesco but a quarter of Sainsbury's sales are from non-food products versus about 7 per cent for Tesco, making it more vulnerable to a broader downturn.
"We need to see interest rates continue to come down because that directly impacts household spending. I think clarity in the budget, one way or another, is helpful," Roberts said, on a tour of Sainsbury's revamped flagship superstore in Cobham, south west of London.
Despite the economic uncertainty, Roberts is confident Britons will still splash out on food and drink at Christmas.
"What we've seen over the last three or four years through the pandemic and the inflation crisis, Christmas has been a time when people in the end want to be together with their friends and family and loved ones.
"There's absolutely no complacency at all in our business. We've had three strong Christmases and we're preparing for a fourth one to come."
He said Sainsbury's was well placed to benefit from what he saw as the big consumer themes for Christmas - more people dining at home rather than eating out, time-poor consumers preferring one shop for all of their food and general merchandise needs, and a focus on value.
Under Roberts, Sainsbury's has benefited from a strategy to match discounter Aldi's prices on over 650 essential items and provide better offers for members of its popular Nectar loyalty scheme, financed by cutting costs. He has stepped up product innovation and moved to improve quality, availability, and customer service. Its shares are up 16% over the last year.
The CEO said it was critical the government came through on its promise to fundamentally reform business rates, noting Sainsbury's pays almost as much tax on its properties as it makes in operating profit.